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Fotopedia Collaborative Photo Encyclopedia
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Cameras, Internet,
Cross Flickr and Wikipedia and you get Fotopedia. Users are encouraged to create or edit pages, add their own photos from their PCs or other image sites and include a Google map and Wikipedia information. Included are the categories of geography and travel, nature, transportation, sports, people and history, art and popular culture. So far the site has over 150,000 images that can be made into slide shows for the curious.
Read More | Fotopedia
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Microsoft to Discontinue Encarta
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Microsoft, Software,
Those of us who remember the happiness of finding Encarta included in our early PC purchase are somewhat saddened by the announcement that it will soon no longer be available. The software will cease after June and most sites will shut down by October 2009. Japan will cut theirs off in December. Microsoft commented, “People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past.”
We know they mean Wikipedia, yet the concept of one disc replacing an entire set of encyclopedias was certainly high tech at the time. And the better images used by Encarta will definitely be missed.
Read More | MSN
German Wikipedia To Be Printed
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet,
It seems that Wikipedia is entering the real world, beginning in Germany. The company is planning to publish a hardcover copy of the Internet tome to be named “The One-Volume Wikipedia Encyclopedia.” It will be composed of 50,000 of the 740,000 most searched terms. The first volume, which will be printed in September, may be a hint of things to come, as well as a new chapter in how to make money for Wikipedia. Remember to uncap your red pen to anonymously update and edit the book on its first read-through.
Read More | ABC
Wikinear is Mobile Guide
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Google, GPS, Internet,
If you are unfamiliar with an area that you are trekking around, Wikinear is a new service that will tell you about its environs. Utilizing Yahoo’s Fire Eagle, APIs will find your location and display the 5 nearest interest points on a Google map courtesy of Wikipedia. The service is currently in beta, so you are required to sign up for Fire Eagle and there are only a limited amount of invitations available. Still, we like what we see since we love traveling, and hope that by the time it is officially open it will have more info for the rest of us.
Read More | Mashable
Wiki and Google Trade Tech
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet,
After months of talking and testing, Wikia Search has announced that it will be open to the “general public” next week. Founder Jimmy Wales is sending it the way of Wikipedia, i.e. allowing volunteers to improve on its technology as it develops. The site will open with about 50 to 100 million Web pages indexed, as opposed to other search engines that run in the billions. Interestingly enough, Google is planning to launch its own version of Wikipedia, knol, where authors actually get credit and share in its advertising revenue.
Read More | ABC
No More Instant-Edit on Wikipedia
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Smart Home, Internet,
It seems that Wikipedia is finally getting wise to those who would slant articles. The Vatican and Disney were sited as examples of organizations who did just that. “Ordinary” users will no longer be able to edit for instant changes, but instead will be checked out by “trusted editors,” those who “have proven their commitment to Wikipedia by posting 30 reliable changes within 30 days.”
Wait, there’s more. Apparently the CIA has found altered information on former presidents such as Nixon and Reagan. The changes will begin in the German version which supposedly has a higher accuracy rating, and will move on from there.
Read More | The Telegraph
Investigating Chris Benoit Tragedy
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Talent, Gossip, Internet, News,
Authorities are still trying to piece together the events that led to Chris Benoit’s murderous rage and subsequent suicide, while World Wrestling Entertainment does their best to downplay his alleged steroid usage. DEA officials raided Benoit’s physician’s offices Wednesday, confiscating medical records. WWE owner Vince McMahon denies steroid usage among his former wrestler, saying that Benoit was tested in April and the results came back “totally negative.” Benoit strangled his 43-year-old wife in their Atlanta home Friday night, then smothered their son the next day. Benoit placed Bibles next to both bodies and sent text messages to friends on Sunday morning before hanging himself with his gym equipment. The case seemed pretty cut and dry…but there is one strange piece of evidence still left on the table. Benoit’s Wikipedia entry was updated with news of his wife’s death – more than 12 hours before police discovered the bodies. The entry has been tracked all the way to Stamford, Connecticut, the home base of the WWE, but it is unknown if the person who edited the entry is actually connected with World Wrestling Entertainment…or even in Connecticut. Chris Benoit’s text messages were sent hour after the Wikipedia page was already updated.
Read More | E! Online
Wikipedia Locks Contributions After Episode of The Office
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, NBC, The Office, Internet,
If you watched last week’s episode of The Office called “The Negotiation,” you likely got a few laughs off of Michael Scott’s use of Wikipedia for his negotiating tactics. Wikipedia has become the go-to source for information, but most people take it with a grain of salt. Not clueless Michael Scott, who seemed to worship the knowledge site and rely heavily on its advice, saying, “Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.” So, with the exposure on The Office, you can bet that Wikipedia saw a jump in traffic—so much so that the site had to put the negotiation topic on lockdown after visitors started to add tactics that Michael Scott had talked about during the episode. “It’s definitely the result of that episode,” Wikipedia spokeswoman Sandra Ordonez said Thursday.
Read More | E! Online
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